Students from a private varsity deported due to IS links

A private university operating from Shah Alam is under scrutiny due to the arrest of two students linked to IS.

Yesterday, local media outlets reported on the possible involvement of a private university operating from Shah Alam in terror related activities and IS related links. Two foreign individuals from the university were arrested by the Malaysian police’s Special Branch Counter Terrorism Unit in recent weeks. According to the Malay Mail Online, these individuals may have been putting plans to execute an attack on an international school in Kuala Lumpur.

Police sources said that they are investigating Universiti Antarabangsa Al-Madinah (Mediu) in Shah Alam due to an alleged propagation of extremist materials within the curriculum of the university. The sources, who remains unnamed, said “we are keeping close tabs on some of the lecturers who we believe are promoting extremism. We are also investigating if there are more (IS) members in the university.”

Tan Sri Khalid, Inspector-General of Police, said these two individuals became under suspicion after one of them attempted to obtain “sensitive security information” that may cause a direct threat on one international school. The suspects appear to be between the age of 20 – 30 years old.

Additionally, there seems to be a third suspect according to IGP Khalid. “The third suspect had been arrested by Middle Eastern authorities in 2010 over his involvement in al-Qaeda,” he said.

The three individuals were deported to their country of origin last month.

It was also reported that the UMNO Veterans Association of Malaysia has called upon the federal government and Islamic authorities to shut-down the institution in question. Mustapha Yaakub, who is the leader of the UMNO linked organisation, alleged that the university is a private entity that is breeding militants and may use their university status as a camouflage. Mustapha also said that this institution is not linked to Islamic University of al-Madinah al-Munawarah in Saudi Arabia.

“Veterans do not want Mediu to become a breeding ground for ISIS and Wahhabism in this country,” he said in a statement in a reaction to the recent police disclosure of the information and the work the police have been doing. Wahhabism is a branch off sect from Sunni Islam that upholds an extreme interpretation of Islamic teachings and strongly linked to Saudi Arabia and several other countries in the Middle East.

Mustapha has also questioned the recognition and accreditation status of the institution, which he has called a “nest of dangerous IS agents,” and urged Higher Education Ministry to investigate the status and if they it follows the conditions set by the education authorities in Malaysia. He added that the action of the government against IS would be meaningless if the spread of Wahhabism isn’t addressed.

“Do not let what happened in Syria, Yemen and Iraq happen in this country. Act now before it’s too late. Malaysian and Muslims here cannot afford to face the destruction that have happened in those countries.

“Remember that not everyone here is Muslim. If it happens, the Malays will be destroyed,” he added.

Today, the Star reported that the university is closely monitoring its students after the arrest incident. The university has confirmed that two of their students out of seven have been arrested recently in suspicion of IS linked activities.

Dr Ab Ghani Mohamad, Mediu’s deputy rector of external affairs, offered full support to assist the efforts of the police and immigration department in matters related to screening students and professors. According to Ghani, a professor in the university became suspicious of two students after they didn’t turn up to an exam only to find out that his students had been arrested by police.

The university management was later informed by the Special Branch Counter Terrorism unit of the arrest several days after the arrest.

At this point of time, the future of some 1,200 students at Al-Madinah International University (Mediu) in Shah Alam is uncertain. However, The Malay Mail Online reported that a meeting is set to take place today between government officials and representatives of the university to discuss the curriculum and accreditation of the institution.

Among the representatives of the university are Mediu student leader Mohd Zulnazmi Zulkifli, university rector Prof Dr Mohammad Khalifa Al-Tamimi, members of the management and representatives of Al-Madinah International Foundation.

MOHE and MQA will be conducting the meeting to discuss the university’s operations and curriculum.

It is unclear if the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) will part of the meeting.

Mediu has 1,280 students from 43 countries, majority from Nigeria, Bangladesh and Indonesia. It is being watched by the police and authorities are on high alert as there may be potential IS recruits and sympathisers embedded on campus.

Among the seven suspects, there was a 26-year old foreign worker who was arrested earlier this month due to plans to launch an attack in Myanmar, and he may have smuggled weapons into Poso, Indonesia.

Three locals were also arrested from different states under strong indication of links to terror cells. One of which had received instruction to build an improvised explosive device (IED), and another published a threat to launch attacks on entertainment outlets on Facebook. All suspects are being investigated under the Penal Code and the Security Offense (Special Measures) Act 2012 on terror related activities.

On a related note, Bukit Aman’s Special Branch Counter Terrorism Division head Datuk Ayob Khan said that an IS militant from Pengkalan Hulu, Perak based in Syria is actively involved in recruiting Malaysians for the terror group.

The Star reported that an individual by the name of Muhammad Nasrullah Abd Latif (AKA: Abu Gomes) is a bomb expert who has been active for at least two years. According to Ayob, the terrorist went to Syria in 2014 and he may have influenced a number of Malaysians and he may have supplied materials that teaches local members of IS how to make bombs and other forms of explosive devices.

“We are currently in the midst of identifying those he recruited. We can confirm that he often shares his knowledge in bomb making and has issued orders to IS cells in Malaysia to launch attacks,” Ayob said.

Five days ago, it was reported that a Malaysian member of IS executed a suicide attack on members of a group affiliated with the Syrian army killing 14 soldiers and injuring scores.